


The Empty Patches Between

by Rosage



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, Gen, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), references to childhood kidnapping and attempted murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:40:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21826834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosage/pseuds/Rosage
Summary: When a nightmare draws Petra from her room, two princesses’ paths cross.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg & Petra Macneary
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	The Empty Patches Between

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Petra’s monastery dialogue about being a target of attempted assassinations.

_Their gloved hands could swallow her. She bites, scratches, anything to gain an edge. They laugh, and she struggles, she struggles, she struggles..._

Petra wakes tangled in a sheet. She grasps the dagger on her side table and checks beneath the bed, the desk, the corner cobwebs. Alone. She replaces the dagger and picks up the book beside it, a history of Fódlan’s diplomats.

Her attempt to study by candlelight proves fruitless, as the walls and stuffy air trap her in her dream. She undoes her handcrafted locks and climbs out the window. On her first day in the dorm, she tested how easily an assassin could sneak in, and the route became a habit. Unlike the nobles’ rooms, hers lacks the advantage of height and better security. She knows better than to ask for the same rather than fortify her own defenses. 

When she touches the ground, warm air kisses her cheeks, a gift from a wind spirit. In the clear night, she needs no torch to scan the ledges above for snipers. Only the regular patrol moves about. They are not alert enough; they don’t notice her as she slips past the other rooms, a mix of habit, practice, and a desire to avoid waking her friends. As she takes special care not to disturb Bernadetta, she spots a figure with hair like silver in the dark. Petra approaches with a whispered greeting.

Edelgard whirls, pale in the moonlight, and drops the hand reaching for her dagger. “Oh, Petra. What are you doing out here so late?”

“I am having a walk. What about you? You are being far from your room.”

Edelgard looks around as if to confirm her location. “Yes, I suppose I was lost in thought.”

“Then it is good I have found you,” Petra says with a smile. Edelgard returns a fraction of it.

“It would seem so.” 

“I have also been in thought. And now I am thinking we should walk together.”

If this displeases Edelgard, she nonetheless agrees. Though restless energy coils within Petra, she continues at a slower pace, matching Edelgard’s uncharacteristic stroll. She does not doubt that sleep also preys upon Edelgard, whatever her predators’ shapes.

“I have been aiming for the pond,” Petra says. A clear view of the sky should mean a clear head. To test Edelgard’s attention, she adds, “I was thinking of having a swim.”

Edelgard grows even paler. “A swim? At night?”

“It is a joke. I know the water would have too much coldness.”

“Yes, I can imagine.” 

They arrive at the pond’s edge. Even here she cannot see as many stars as she could by the ocean, just as the bugs do not sing as loudly outside the forest. Still, she finds refuge in constellations and the empty patches between them.

“The lady hunts,” Petra says. Her finger etches an arrow’s path. “The first queen of Brigid draws her bow in the stars.”

“I see. So even at night, Brigid royalty is strong.”

“Yes. But at day, she must be hiding away. For me, the sun makes it harder to hide.”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” Edelgard says. “But I might.”

For now, that is the closest they will get to understanding. Knowing Edelgard can keep watch, Petra closes her eyes and pretends the still water is lapping a distant shore.


End file.
